Self-installable and portable voice telecommunication service

ABSTRACT

An architecture and technique for creating self-installable and portable telephony (dial tone) service that can be moved between any two locations that has access to both a voice communication network and a data network. A telephony adapter is used as a subscriber premises device that is connected between a conventional telephone set and both a voice network and a data network. A provisioning server communicates with the telephony adapter through the data network and maintains a record of the subscriber&#39;s local telephone number and IP address of the telephony adapter. As the subscriber moves from one location to another, the telephony adapter (once turned “on”) will communicate with the provisioning server and re-establish phone service, always using the same local phone number of the subscriber.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of telecommunication and,more particularly, to an apparatus and architecture allowing forself-provisioning and porting of telephone dial tone service.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

With traditional telephone service, self-provisioning has alwaysbeen—and will remain—an impossibility for most consumers. In today'stelecommunication industry, a subscriber needs to go through an extendedprocess to transfer or modify his service: call the service provider;set up an appointment for an installer to come to the residence, etc.Once the service is satisfactorily installed, moving the service to anew location basically means starting the process all over again. Ifself-provisioning and porting of dial tone telephone service werepossible, it would be both beneficial to the consumer and efficient forthe telecommunications company.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The need remaining in the prior art is addressed by the presentinvention, which relates to the field of telecommunication and, moreparticularly, to an apparatus and architecture allowing forself-provisioning and porting of telephone dial tone service from/to anylocation that has access to a high-speed data connection (e.g., cable,DSL, LAN or the like) which can provide access to the apparatusdescribed below. This can take the form of a public or private IPnetwork depending on the community to which the service is being madeavailable. In the following example, a public network and apublicly-routable IP address is assumed. The apparatus and architectureof the present invention hereinafter referred to as “dial tone anywhere”(DTA).

In accordance with the teaching of the present invention, a telephonyadapter (TA) device establishes a telephony service presence (i.e., dialtone) at the subscriber's location using the TA's unique Media AccessController (MAC) address. A provisioning database is coupled to the IPnetwork and maintains records of subscriber location and accountinformation. Associated with each subscriber's record in the database isinformation regarding his local calling area, billing address, and thelike. When the subscriber re-locates and connects his TA to a new datanetwork, a new IP address for the TA will be assigned and forwarded tothe provisioning database to be associated with the TA's MAC address.Thus, DTA service will be re-established automatically by the TA withoutany intervention by the subscriber, or by a telecommunications companycustomer service representative.

An aspect of the present invention is that the subscriber re-establishesdial tone and telephony service anywhere covered by a data network,while retaining both the original calling area(s) and local telephonenumber. Calls placed to/from this number will appear as local calls inthe original local calling area. This local calling area, of course, canalso be changed by the subscriber (via an authorized website, forexample) to modify the calling area to be associated with the newphysical location.

Other and further aspects of the present invention will become apparentduring the course of the following discussion and by reference to theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the drawings,

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network architecture that may be used tosupport the “dial tone anywhere” service of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary provisioning flow for establishing dialtone anywhere service;

FIG. 3 contains a diagram of alternative flow processes for renewing theIP address associated with a telephony adapter in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 contains a flowchart of an exemplary call set-up flow, followingPacket Cable NCS standards, using a telephony adapter in accordance withthe present invention;

FIG. 5 contains a flowchart of an exemplary Packet Cable NCS standardsprocess used to provide “call termination” between a first telephonyadapter and a second telephony adapter; and

FIG. 6 contains a flowchart of an exemplary Packet Cable NCS standardsprocess for providing “call termination” between a conventionaltelephone set and a telephony adapter in accordance with the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

“Dial tone anywhere” (DTA) service, in accordance with the presentinvention and as will be described in detail hereinbelow, allows theuser to self-install phone service in any location that has access to ahigh-speed data connection (e.g., cable, DSL, LAN, etc.). Installing theservice, via a “telephone adapter” coupled to the data connection, isconsidered to be relatively simple, as shown below, and can be completedin about a minute. Once the subscriber's account is established, thetelephony adapter is easily ported to a new location, as long as thereis a high-speed data connection that may be used to hook up to the DTAservice. Whether this move is permanent, or just for a few days, theinstallation procedure remains the same. The billing information, localphone number, and free local calling area remain in place, unless thesubscriber chooses to change them via, for example, a web interface.

In addition to portability of the physical device (by merely physicallymoving the telephony adapter (TA) from one location to another), thehome calling area is also portable. The subscriber can have a localphone number (and associated free local calling area) anywhere in thecountry and, in fact, can even have more than one free local callingarea. The home calling area portability is a useful feature if, forexample, the subscriber moves to Los Angeles, but has a large number offamily and friends in the Philadelphia area. The subscriber retains a“Philadelphia local number” so that calls to and from that area areconsidered local calls. The subscriber may also have family in Orlando,in which case, the subscriber can obtain a second local number in thatarea so that those calls are considered local as well.

When the subscriber moves the DTA service to a new residence, the freelocal calling areas stay the same, unless the subscriber requests achange. In the above example, the subscriber may decide to move to SanFrancisco, but desire to stay in touch with people in Philadelphia andOrlando. The subscriber would therefore leave the local calling areainformation the same. However, the subscriber may also change thisinformation (using a secure website, for example), and request a changein local calling area via a self-service web page.

Initially, when an individual decides to subscribe to DTA service, thefirst step is to access a provisioning website, where the website can bereached using any conventional web browser. The subscriber will providetheir billing/shipping address (es), billing method, feature choices,local calling area(s), etc. If the subscriber chooses to purchase thenecessary equipment online, the appropriate device will be shippeddirectly to the shipping address. If the subscriber chooses to purchasethe necessary equipment in a retail setting, then the website willrecommend appropriate retail outlets and/or equipment make and modelthat will operate with the DTA service.

The TA device received by the customer will include a Wide Area Network(WAN) jack for connection to the subscriber's cable/DSL modem, a LocalArea Network (LAN) jack for connection to the subscriber's PC, and aconventional telephone jack (RJ-11). Once the TA is connectedappropriately and plugged into any conventional 110V electrical outlet,the provisioning and setup are fully automated, as discussed in detailbelow, and will be operational within minutes.

Once the TA is operational, the subscriber can make calls to anywhere inthe world. The subscriber will have chosen one or more local areas inwhich to have a local phone number. When the subscriber makes calls tothese areas (which can be anywhere in the country), or receives callsfrom these areas, the calls will be considered local. Calls to otherlocations outside of these local calling areas (including the currentphysical location of the subscriber) will be billed at long distancerates.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network architecture 10 that may be usedto implement the “dial tone anywhere” (DTA) service of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 1, a Call Management System (CMS) 12 isassociated with a managed IP (data) network 14 and provides call controland signaling-related services for TA 18, PSTN gateway 30 and signalinggateway 32 in network 14. In accordance with the present invention, CMS12 functions to map registered telephone numbers of DTA servicesubscribers into an IP address that will be associated with each TA.Referring to FIG. 1, a DTA service subscriber at a first location 16,including a TA 18, is illustrated as having local telephone number732-530-3333. The associated local calling area 20 is also shown. It isthe IP address that CMS 12 uses to route calls to/from the DTA customerat location 16. In most cases, since IP addresses can change often, CMS12 actually keeps track of its subscribers using their Fully QualifiedDomain Name (FQDN). CMS 12 relies on Dynamic Domain Name Server (DDNS)22 for the most current mappings of FQDNs to IP addresses. CMS 12 thencaches the FQDN to IP translation, and updates the cache each time thereis an IP address update. This update is indicated to CMS 12 by TA 18,which then triggers CMS 12 to query DDNS 22 for the latest information.

As mentioned above, DDNS 22 is a critical element required to keep trackof the changing IP addresses of the DTA subscribers. In particular, DDNS22 maintains the definitive list of IP to FQDN mappings for the DTAservice, and is used as the source to feed the updates to CMS 12, asneeded. For this particular DTA service, DDNS 22 performs no otherfunction, thus its only “customer” in architecture 10 is DTA CMS 12.

In accordance with the present invention, telephony adapter (TA) 18 isthe customer premises equipment used in conjunction with an existinghigh-speed data modem (already present at the subscriber's location) toprovide DTA service. As shown in FIG. 1, TA 18 is interconnected betweena modem 24 (such as a cable modem) and a PC 26, and offers a standardtelephone jack interconnection to a telephone set 28 (telephone set 28associated with the subscriber's defined ANI of 732-530-3333). It is tobe understood that the “TA functionality”, as will be described indetail below, can be incorporated into either a modem or a PC, and neednot always be formed as a stand-alone unit. TA 18 uses the public LPaddress offered by modem 24, and informs CMS 12 of its IP address, aswill be described below in association with FIG. 2. In order to indicateto CMS 12 that the IP address is new, or has changed, TA 18 sends aspecial message at the end of the flow requesting CMS 12 to refresh itscache by dipping into DDNS 22. In operation, TA 18 will packetizeoutgoing voice communication, giving this information priority overother data being sent upstream by the subscriber (that is, data from the“PHONE” port of TA 18 will be given priority over data from the “PC”port). TA 18 then passes the voice information to modem 24 at the IPlayer (OSI layer 3) and above. Indeed, TA 18 is essentially blind to thelower-layer protocols that are being used by modem 24, such as DOCSIS orDSL.

Referring again to FIG. 1, a trunk gateway switch 30 (also referred toin the art as a “media gateway”), provides bearer connectivity betweenIP network 14 and the public switched telephone network (PSTN) 31. Forcalls between the IP network 14 and the PSTN 31, trunk gateway 30converts voice traffic to and from RTP packets (IP) to TDM format voicesamples. The TDM interconnection may be signaled with ISDN PRI or SS7signaling. In the case of an SS7 interconnection, a signaling gateway 32supports SS7 signaling to and from the PSTN 31. A provisioning server 34is used to collect the IP addresses of the various subscriber TAs, andto send back to those TAs the configuration information that they needto function as part of the DTA service. In accordance with the presentinvention, the TAs are pre-configured to query provisioning server 34(via server 34's domain name) once the TA has acquired its public IPaddress. Provisioning server 34 uses the MAC address (or other uniqueinformation, such as a security key) of TA 18 to identify it as alegitimate subscriber. Once this is determined, provisioning server 34sends the public IP address and the FQDN of TA 18 to DDNS 22 for use byCMS 12. In addition, provisioning server 34 sends the followinginformation back to TA 18 (as described in detail below): (1) aSuccess/Fail flag representing the DDNS update; (2) the FQDN for TA 18;(3) the name of the configuration file that TA 18 needs to download; (4)the method that TA 18 should use to download this configuration file;and (5) the FQDN or IP address of the particular server 35 that containsthe configuration file.

Provisioning server 34 will perform a similar function when updating theIP address that TA 18 might receive after an expired DHCP lease, asdiscussed below in association with FIG. 3. In this case, the new IPaddress and existing FQDN are still sent to DDNS 22, but there is noneed to send return information to TA 18, as required in establishing anew service.

In accordance with the present invention, therefore, the ability of TA18 to communicate with CMS 12 allows for the TA to be un-installed andre-installed at any location that offers a high-speed data connection,allowing the subscriber to provide dial tone service for himself withoutany need to involve service personnel of the telephone company.Referring to FIG. 1, when the subscriber moves to another location 40,service is provided by merely unhooking TA 18 at first location 16 andhooking up to telephone 46 and cable modem 48 at new location 40. Aswill be discussed in detail below, TA 18 then begins a re-installprocess by sending out a “discover” message, which leads to the XMLservice request being forwarded to provisioning server 34 and CMS 12,thus providing the same local telephone number and local calling planfor the subscriber. For all intents and purposes, telephone 46 coupledto TA 18, will send and receive telephone calls from its “old” localcalling area 20 as if it had never been moved to location 40. Thus, asubscriber may re-locate from New Jersey to California and immediatelyreactivate telephone service using the same local number the subscriberhad in New Jersey.

FIG. 2 contains a provisioning message flow used by a telephony adapter(TA) of the present invention to initiate the inventive “dial toneanywhere” (DTA) service. In fact, this process is used when a TA isinstalled for the first time (such as at location 16 of FIG. 1), ormoved to a new location, such as location 40 shown in FIG. 1. Referringto the provisioning flow, when a TA is first turned “on”, it will sendout a standard DHCP discover message to its associated ISP (“A” in FIG.2), where the ISP responds with at least one DHCP offer (“B”). The TAthen responds with an acceptance of the offered IP address, sending aRequest message to this effect (“C”), which is then acknowledged by theISP (“D”). TA 18 now has established its own public IP address. TA 18comes equipped with the FQDN of DTA provisioning server 34 (resident inits memory), and at this point can now launch a DNS Request to the ISPDNS to resolve the FQDN of server 34 into an IP address (“E”). The ISP'sDNS then returns the resolved IP address for DTA provisioning server 34to the TA (“F”).

At this point, TA 18 launches an XML service request (“G”) to DTAprovisioning server 34, where the encrypted message includes the MACaddress of TA 18, as well as the public IP address given to TA 18 by thesubscriber's ISP. Upon receipt of this request, DTA provisioning server34 then verifies the MAC address of TA 18 against its internalaccounting records and, if valid, forwards both the FQDN and IP addressof TA 18 to DTA DDNS 22 (“H”), where DDNS 22 is used by DTA CMS 12, asmentioned above, in defining the location of the various TAs requestingservice.

At the same time, DTA provisioning server 34 responds to TA 18 withanother encrypted XML message containing the following elements: (1) aSuccess/Fail flag representing the update at DDNS 22; (2) the FQDN of TA18; (3) the name of the configuration file that TA 18 needs to download;(4) the method that TA 18 should use to download this configuration file(e.g., ftp, tftp, http, etc); and (5) the FQDN or IP address of theserver 35 containing the configuration file (“I”). TA 18 then sends arequest to the ISP DNS to resolve the FQDN of the configuration fileserver (“J”), and the DNS then responds by sending the resolved IPaddress back to TA 18 (“K”). Using this IP address, TA 18 then sends aquery to the proper server (“L”) requesting the server to download itsconfiguration file. The server then downloads the configuration file toTA 18, including the FQDN and proper port number of DTA CMS 12 (“M”).With this information, TA 18 then sends a request to the ISP DNS toresolve the FQDN of DTA CMS 12 (“N”) and the ISP DNS responds with theresolved IP address for DTA CMS 12 (“0”).

Once all of this address information has been transmitted and resolved,TA 18 then sends a RSIP Restart message to DTA CMS 12 to let it knowthat TA 18 is now “ready” to receive calls (“P”), where this messageincludes the FQDN of TA 18. DTA CMS 12 responds to TA 18 (“Q”) with an“OK” message, where at this point TA 18 may play a “ring splash” to theconnected telephone to indicate to the subscriber that the TA isoperational and ready to receive/place telephone calls (denoted as “R”,this last alerting step is considered to be optional).

FIG. 3 contains a provisioning flow diagram used by a telephony adapter(TA) in order to renew an IP address (or obtaining a new IP address),illustrating alternative processes that can be used. In the simplestform of the process, TA 18 sends a DHCP request (“a”) to its ISP DHCP,the request including the existing IP address for TA 18 in an attempt torenew the lease for this IP address. In this first case, thesubscriber's ISP responds with an ACKnowledgement (“b”) and renews thelease. Alternatively, the subscriber's ISP may choose not to allow therenewal of the same IP address (“c”), which then forces TA 18 to beginover with a DHCP Discover request (“d”). The subscriber's ISP thenresponds (“e”) with a DHCP offer (or more than one offer) and TA 18proceeds to accept one of the offered IP addresses (“f”), which isthereafter acknowledged by the ISP DHCP (“g”) so that TA 18 again has apublic IP address. At this point, TA 18 launches an XML service update(“h”) to DTA provisioning server 34, where this encrypted messageincludes the MAC address of TA 18, as well as the new IP address. DTAprovisioning server 34 then verifies the MAC address of TA 18 againstits accounting records to see if it is a valid bid for service.Presuming the request is valid, provisioning server 34 forwards the FQDNand new IP address of TA 18 to DTA DDNS 22 (“i”). As described above,DDNS 22 is used by DTA CMS 12 to locate the various TAs requestingservice. DTA provisioning server 34 also functions to transmit a returnencrypted XML message to TA 18 (“j”), containing the Success/Fail flagrepresenting the DDNS update. Since TA 18 is already configured andactive, no other information is required to be contained in this XMLmessage. Once the updated IP address information has been transmitted,TA 18 will sends a RSIP Restart message to DTA CMS 12 to let it knowthat TA 18 is again “ready” to receive calls (“k”), where this messageincludes the FQDN of TA 18. DTA CMS 12 responds to TA 18 (“1”) with an“OK” message.

With this understanding of the provisioning flow for starting/renewingthe operation of a telephony adapter (TA) in accordance with the presentinvention, it is now possible to describe the call flow associated withusing “dial tone anywhere” (DTA) service in accordance with theteachings of the present invention. In particular, FIG. 4 contains aflowchart associated with an exemplary call set-up process when atelephone call originates from a telephone coupled to a TA, such astelephone 46 and TA 18 as shown in FIG. 1, using Packet Cable NCS callflow processing as an example. It is to be understood that any standardVoIP signaling protocol may be used in implementing DTA service inaccordance with the present invention, such as MGCP, NCS, SIP, and thelike, with the particular signaling protocols and call flows asdescribed in FIGS. 4-6 as just one particular embodiment of the serviceof the present invention. The call set-up process begins with thesubscriber going off-hook (step 100), which causes TA 18 to send an MGCPoff-hook message (step 110) to CMS 12 (see FIG. 1). In response, CMS 12sends an MGCP response message to TA 18, instructing TA 18 to play “dialtone” for telephone 46 and collect the digits upon dialing by thesubscriber (step 120). The subscriber then dials the called party'snumber and TA 18 collects the digits and forwards the digits in an MGCPmessage to CMS 12 (step 130). CMS 12 then transmits an MGCP “createconnection” message with the SDP profile to TA 18 (step 140), requestingTA 18 to set up a half-duplex connection and report the next “on-hook”event to CMS 12 (i.e., report when the phone call is completed).

A decision is then made to determine if the dialed digits are associatedwith another telephony adapter, or with a PSTN telephone set. Presumingthat the dialed digits are associated with another TA (hereinafterreferred to as TA 50, with the call referred to as an “on-net” to“on-net” call), CMS 12 then proceeds to associate a FQDN and associatedport number based on the dialed digits received (step 160). CMS 12 thensends a request to DDNS 22 to translate this FQDN into an IP addressthat will be used to establish communication with TA 50 (step 170). Withthis information in place, CMS 12 then sends an MGCP create connectionmessage (with proper IP address and port number) followed by a Requestfor Notification (RQNT) message to provide ringing, to TA 50,instructing TA 50 to begin ringing (step 180). Subsequent to thistransmission, CMS 12 then sends an MGCP “modify connection” message toTA 18, the message including the IP address of TA 50 and an instructionto generate a “ringing” tone (step 190).

When the called party answers the phone (i.e., goes “off-hook”), TA 50sends an MGCP message to CMS 12, indicating that the call should begin(step 200). CMS 12 then sends an accounting “Connect” message to RecordKeeping Server (RKS) 36 (step 210), and instructs TA 50 to report thenext “on-hook” event (step 220), i.e., when the called party hangs up.At this point, CMS 12 then sends an MGCP “Modify Connection” message toTA 18 (step 230), instructing TA 18 to stop sending ringing tones and tomake the send/receive connection full duplex. At this point, the callingand called parties are in full communication and can carry on theirtelephone conversation.

Returning to step 150, it is now presumed that TA 18 is calling out to atelephone not connected to another TA (i.e., an “on-net” to “off-net”call). In this case, CMS 12 analyzes the dialed digits (step 150) anddetermines that this particular telephone number has no association withan FQDN and port number (as another TA would). Therefore, CMS 12 usesthe collected digits to determine the proper trunk gateway (such as, forexample, trunk gateway 30 illustrated in FIG. 1) to handle the call(step 250). CMS 12 then sends a TGCP message, with the information of TA18, to the selected trunk gateway (step 260), instructing it to create asend/receive connection. CMS 12 also starts a conventional PSTNconnection by sending an IAM message (step 270) to the signaling gateway32. CMS 12 then sends an MGCP “modify connection” message to TA 18,instructing TA 18 to switch from half-duplex to full-duplex mode (step280). At some time during this process, CMS 12 receives an ACM (ISTP)message from the signaling gateway (such as signaling gateway 32illustrated in FIG. 1) (step 290), indicating that call set-up to thecalled party has been completed. At this point, CMS 12 then sends anMGCP message (including the information associated with TA 18), to thetrunk gateway (such as trunk gateway 30), instructing trunk gateway 30to create a send/receive connection (step 300). Following this, when thecalled party goes off-hook, CMS 12 will receive an ANM (ISTP) message(step 310), causing CMS 12 to send an “event connect” message to RKS 36and allow the telephone conversation between the calling and calledparties to begin.

FIG. 5 contains a flowchart of an exemplary process, using Packet CableNCS call flow protocols, that may be followed in terminating a telephonecall between a first TA (such as TA 18) and a second TA (such as TA 50).In this particular example, it is presumed that the called party(associated with TA 50) is the first to hang up (go “on-hook”), step400. When the called party goes on-hook, TA 50 sends an MGCP message toCMS 12 (step 410) indicating that the call has been terminated. Whenthis message is received, CMS 12 responds with an MGCP “deleteconnection” message that is sent back to TA 50 (step 420), where thismessage also includes an instruction for TA 50 to instruct CMS 12 of thenext “off-hook” event. CMS 12 then receives the “call performance”information from TA 50 (step 430) and sends an MGCP “delete connection”message to TA 18 (step 440), instructing TA 18 to free up the resourcesused during call. In reply, CMS 12 receives the “call performance”information (step 450) from TA 18. The calling party associated with TA18 then goes back on-hook (step 460), causing TA 18 to send a message toCMS 12 indicating the on-hook condition (step 470). In response, CMS 12sends an MGCP message back to TA 18, requesting TA 18 to report the next“off-hook” event (step 480). To complete the call termination process,CMS 12 sends a “terminating event” message to the RKS.

FIG. 6 contains a flowchart illustrating an exemplary call terminationprocess to be used in accordance with the present invention todisconnect a calling party using a telephony adapter (TA) of the presentinvention from a conventional telephone set (i.e., an “on-net” to“off-net” call termination process), the particular illustrating in FIG.6 associated with the use of Packet Cable NCS call flow protocol. Inthis example, it is presumed that the called party (using a conventionaltelephone) is the first party to hang up (i.e., on “on-hook”), as shownin step 500 of FIG. 6. When this occurs, the associated signalinggateway sends a “release” message to CMS 12 (step 510), including theidentity of the TA (in this case, TA 18) involved in the telephone call.CMS 12, in turn, sends a “terminating event” message to the RKS 36 (step520). Further, CMS 12 sends a TGCP “delete connection” message to thetrunk gateway, instructing the trunk gateway to free up the resourcesthat had been involved in this telephone call (step 530). CMS 12 alsosends an “RLCX” message to the signaling gateway, indicating that thecall release process has been completed (step 540). Once this hasoccurred, CMS 12 sends an MGCP “delete connection” message to TA 18 soas to release TA 18 from this call (step 550). In response, CMS 12receives the “performance information” from TA 18 (step 560), as well asits “on-hook” message. CMS 12 then completes the process by sending anMGCP message back to TA 18 (step 570), instructing TA 18 to report itsnext off-hook event (step 580).

While this invention has been described in reference to illustrativeembodiments, the description is not intended to be construed in alimiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of theillustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention,will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference ordescription. In particular, and as noted above, the DTA service of thepresent invention may be implemented using any standard VoIP signalingprotocol, such as MGCP, NCS, SIP or the like. It is, therefore, intendedthat the appended claims encompass any such modifications orembodiments.

1. An arrangement for providing self-provisioned telecommunicationservice, the arrangement comprising a telephony adapter device, coupledat a subscriber location to a conventional telephone, said telephonyadapter coupled to both a telecommunications voice network and a datanetwork, said telephony adapter identified unique information and usedto establish both half-duplex and full-duplex telecommunicationconnections between the connected to conventional telephone and saidtelecommunications voice network; and a provisioning database, coupledto the data network, said database comprising subscriber records forself-provisioned service, each record including a local telephone numberassociated with each subscriber and the unique MAC address of theassociated telephony adapter.
 2. The arrangement as defined in claim 1wherein the telephony adapter unique information comprises a unique MACaddress.
 3. The arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein the telephonyadapter unique information comprises a unique security key.
 4. Thearrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein the arrangement furthercomprises a call management system coupled to the data network, saidcall management system used to provide a mapping between the localtelephone numbers of each subscriber and an IP address to be used by thesubscriber's telephony adapter to establish voice telecommunication. 5.The arrangement as defined in claim 4 wherein the arrangement furthercomprises a dynamic domain name server that communicates with thetelephony adapter to maintain an updated translation between IP addressand fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of each telephony adapter, thedynamic domain name server in communication with the call managementsystem to providing updated IP address information to said callmanagement system.
 6. A method of provisioning dial-tone anywhere (DTA)telephone service using a telephony adapter device at a subscriberlocation, the telephony adapter device identified by unique informationand connected to a conventional telephone and coupled to both a voicetelecommunications network and a data network, the provisioning methodcomprising the steps of: a) transmitting a standard DHCP discoverymessage from the telephony adapter to a data network DHCP; b) receiving,at the telephony adapter, a public IP address; c) transmitting a servicerequest from the telephony adapter to a DTA provisioning server coupledto the data network, the request comprising the unique identifyinginformation and the public IP address associated with the telephonyadapter; d) forwarding, from the DTA provisioning server to a dynamicdomain name server, the unique identifying information and IP address ofthe telephony adapter; e) transmitting a configuration file to thetelephony adapter, the configuration file including the fully qualifieddomain name (FQDN) and port number of a DTA call management system; f)transmitting, from the telephony adapter to the DTA call managementsystem, an initiation request to begin telephony service using theaddressed telephony adapter.
 7. The method as defined in claim 6 whereinin performing step c), the MAC address of the telephony adapter istransmitted as the unique identifying information.
 8. The method asdefined in claim 6 wherein in performing step c), a security keyassociated with the telephony adapter is transmitted as the uniqueidentifying information.